The Power of the Grail
by Metal4k
Summary: The Flood and Reapers have taken world after world, and Commander Shepard and Master Chief are on the edge of their rope to find the Halo Array. As they traverse new space and realities, dark secrets will be revealed that could shatter all they know. The enemy has plans of its own, and even Heroes are hopeless to stop it. Sequel to the "Universe of All Reality"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hello fellow readers! So before you continue on let me state this is a sequel to the story "The Universe of All Reality". Now! Before any new readers leave let me say that any have several options:**

 **Go back and read the Universe of All Reality. (Beware for the quality of that story is going to be a lot lower than this one) (Not recommended)**

 **You can read the summary I wrote that starts right after this A/N (Recommended)**

 **You can skip the summary and jump right into things. I will do my best to ease you into the world and give you hints and explanations of things that happened in the prequel to this story. (Not recommended)**

 **Don't read. (Not recommended)**

 **Well that[']s that! So to all returning readers welcome to the Power of the Grail!**

 **Warning: This story will turn into an M rated fic as it goes on, for now though it is still rated T. It will eventually contain dark/depressing themes, character death, possible gore, dramatized death, swearing, and possible sexual situations between characters (Though this is the least likely to happen).**

 **Anyway hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Summary of The Universe of All Reality Part I**

At the end of the Reaper War, Commander Katherine Shepard choose neither of the three options given to her by the Catalyst, leader of the Reapers. The Catalyst realized humans could change by her actions and ended the Reapers existence in the galaxy as well as the war.

Ten years pass, and Commander Shepard attends the annual ball held at the Citadel to celebrate the defeat of the Reapers. After ten more years of being a Spectre, while most of her friends have moved on with their lives, the Commander is considering retirement. At the ball she sees old friends, and her and Garrus prepare to sneak off to enjoy the Purgatory bar when something happens.

The entire room freezes and only Shepard is left able to move and speak. An entity that she can't place forms out of the darkness and after threatening her, states how she's failed and shoots Ashley Williams. The entity unfreezes time and the blame for attempted murder is placed on Shepard. The Commander is arrested and placed in prison, while Liara and Garrus try to legally break her out.

After a week passes, Shepard is let out for a public trial, much to Liara's, Garrus's, and her confusion. At the trial, where hundreds of people are allowed to attend, the new Council questions Shepard and she pleads innocent.

A new VI pops up at the Council's request and she immediately recognizes it as the Catalyst. She announces this but the Council refuses to believe her until the VI turns on them and shuts off power to the Citadel, forcing the emergency systems to come online. It announces it is the Catalyst, the real one and not the imposter Shepard faced years ago while another voice proclaims itself as a monument to all their sins.

As panic sets in a deformed and decayed creature leaps from the crowds and assaults the Council. Shepard is freed by Garrus and they defend the Council despite their treatment of the Commander. The manage to fend the creature off but more pour in and begin overwhelming the guards and slaughtering the crowd.

The Turian councilor sacrifices himself in a valiant display of courage to allow Shepard and the other councilors to retreat. They fight their way through the Citadel, taking a few losses as they tangle with the deformed monsters, and after a brief life-risking maneuver, Shepard gets the group aboard the Normandy.

Hours later aboard the Normandy, the group is informed that the Quarians and Geth have gone dark, while the Krogan and Turian militaries are calling for reinforcements. They realize the monsters, or parasites, are attacking from within Citadel controlled space and know they must've had inside help.

The Normandy travels to Quarian controlled space, per the request of Admiral Hackett to check up on their allies and to find scientists of the Alliance that had been studying a new Prothean ruin.

They discover that less then ten percent of the Migrant Fleet, and even fewer Geth ships, had survived a surprise attack on them from an unknown enemy that Shepard is able to identify as parasite controlled ships.

Shepard gets into contact with Captain Quartin, leader of whats left of the two combined fleets. He informs them of their loss and how they're trapped in the system, unable to communicate for some reason and how the enemy fleet is all concentrated over one area of Rannoch.

They discover a signal that's blocking all forms of long range communication. Shepard and a team go down to investigate the signal since it's broadcasting where the scientists had last been seen. They entered the ruins the scientists had been studying and discover a doorway that's not Prothean underground the actual Prothean ruins. Shepard is the only one who manages to open it when her hand makes contact with it. They keep going and engage machines that overwhelm them and cripple Liara. A floating, lightbulb-looking machine called 248 Reluctant Promise saves them, but announces how the parasite have entered the installation.

They group flee aboard what the machine calls a Forerunner ship, and using its advanced weaponry, manage to help the Normandy and other fleets escape the system.

The AI informs them of the Covenant, and takes the Normandy and fleets outside of the galaxy with the help of Forerunner technology and discover the last of the Covenant. The aliens are friendly, but have stagnated in their technology since they've been stuck for eons on their one planet outside the galaxy.

They awaken an old warrior called the Arbiter and together go in search of what Reluctant Promise calls the last Reclaimer. They follow a lead and arrive at Thessia to find it under attack by none other than the Reapers, much to Shepard's surprise.

They infiltrate the planet and, after hours of fighting, manage to make it to the Prothean temple in the planet's capital. With the Arbiter, Shepard travels underneath the temple where the two are engaged by black wolves that can reform at will into anything. They manage to kill the creatures, then make it to an underground facility that the Arbiter uses to locate the last Reclaimer. They leave but are confronted by a Reaper and green mist. Fortunately, the Covenant intervene at the battle and they escape. The Arbiter discloses how the last war between his people, Humanity and the Flood went and how the Flood eventually defeated them.

They travel to Earth to secure an alliance between the Council and the Covenant but are interrupted when the Flood invade Earth, revealing that their leader, the Gravemind, had been on Earth the whole time.

Earth falls and they flee again, this time to Sur'Kesh for an emergency meeting of all remaining governments in the galaxy along with the Covenant. They inform the governments and Citadel Council of the Covenants origins as well as the Flood's. They discuss the plan of finding the last Reclaimer and using him to find what Promise calls the Halo array. After hours of debate they come to an agreement and a combined fleet of two thousand ships is sent to find the Reclaimer.

They arrive at the planet the Arbiter's facility lead them to, and find it being invaded by Flood and Reaper forces. They engage, but are outnumbered a hundred to one. Shepard and her team go to the surface and with the help of Thran' Fredum, an Elite general, and the Arbiter, manage to breach the Forerunner facility there. They move into it and discover the last Reclaimer. The last Reclaimer attacks Shepard when awoken from cryo sleep but he stops once the Arbiter shows himself. The last Reclaimer introduces himself as the Master Chief, but states how he's unsure how he got there. They try to flee the planet, but the Flood have overrun it. A sudden ally in strange armor appears with Promethean Knights and a slipspace portal to save them. The fleet above leaves, assuming the group to be dead after a betrayal from the Asari Councilor who's revealed to have been under the Gravemind's control the whole time before being killed by a new N7 named Jacqueline and Liara.

After saving them, the being reveals themselves to be a Forerunner, daughter of the Librarian, called the Keeper. She informs them of something she and her mother discovered. They learned of an ancient race called the Precursors, and how their true intentions were creating the Mantle of Responsibility as well as seeding galaxies with life. She reveals how they, the Precursors, made the Flood but not the Gravemind. They discovered too late that the Gravemind was not from their universe. That it was born in the darkness between universes, as well as the Catalyst, and used the Flood against them, hence why the Precursor fled the edges of the universe to populate the galaxies with life for some reason. She informs them that other realities, other universes, are real, as discovered by the Precursors.

She shows them footage, pictures, and other specimens that depict the truth and even shows how she and her mother developed a way of traveling between realities. She uses it to show them a specific planet, another Earth, that's been destroyed and overwhelmed by the Flood. She also informs them how Shepard and Chief have a specific DNA sequence that she can't study or even test, but reveals that the Precursors were able to identify and track it. This DNA sequence was said to be important by the Precursors and those before them, but for what reason even the Precursors and Forerunner did not know. However, they theorized how there were certain, specific individuals, five in particular, whose DNA sequences were stronger than that of the other Alphas—a name choose by Garrus for Shepard and Chief. They are surprised to find out on the destroyed planet that there's a single person still alive and has a similar DNA sequence. They rescue the girl from black wolves and the Flood. The girl introduces herself as R.

The make the girl feel at home, but Shepard is confused and wary of all this information. The Keeper then, after earning their trust through several other missions, informs them how she detected a signal of a portal being opened to another universe. Only she, the Gravemind, and Catalyst are capable of this, so when they detect a DNA sequence in the universe they follow into the new universe to save whoever it is they need to.

They arrive in a new universe, to another Earth, where a woman named Elsa, who's a queen and has what Shepard considers magic, introduces herself. Before proper introductions or explanations the Reapers arrive and assault the planet, forcing Shepard and her team to play defense, while Elsa, her family, and her people evacuate into the portal since they lack any other option of retreat. Master Chief and Shepard face a being that calls itself the Black Knight, and manage to save the sister to Elsa named Anna. They flee just in time. The Reapers destroy the planet.

Back in their own universe, Chief, Shepard and the others discuss what their next move is. They know they can't defeat both Flood and Reapers so they come up with a plan to activate the Halo arrays, but to focus its power on a single point, wherever the Gravemind is and kill it once and for all. With its death the Flood would be tremendously weakened. Tensions run high, and it's shown how R and Elsa have a hard time fitting in with soldiers and war.

One of the universes the Keeper is monitoring pops up in an alert and reveals another person or Alpha. They follow the signal into the universe and discover a world where people can control the elements and a girl who can control all four named Korra.

After meeting with this world's leaders, but before they can convince Korra and her friends of the truth, the Flood attack and begin taking city after city in the new world. The group splits, forming a plan to evacuate the planet from the Flood. Half of them travel to round up the people of the planet up at the four nations capitals, while the Keeper and others go back to the ME verse to gather reinforcements. In the ME verse they are ambushed and the reality transporter the Keeper has is destroyed- meaning Shepard, Chief, Elsa, and their team are stranded in the new universe. A massive sweep of pain overtakes the heroes as temporary portals to all sorts of different realities open up across the universe. The Keeper announces how her theory of the dimensional barriers failing is coming true- with too much traffic the barriers between dimensions have failed and now anything with a sufficient power source could go anywhere in any reality.

The heroes hold out for a week against the Flood, discovering another reality jumper named Hope Summers who fled her universe because of the Flood. The Keeper is able to make contact with Shepard and the others, and informs them how she has a plan. They keep holding out, while new enemies named Cinder, the Titan, and Mikasa reveal themselves.

At the capital of the Southern Water Tribe the Flood finally attack in force, and the heroes along with the natives of the planet fight back as best they can. The Keeper arrives in the nick of time with a massive fleet, courtesy of 343 Guilty Spark- who revealed himself to still be alive- and the Normandy, and begins evacuating the planet, but the Black Knight returns along with Cinder and others. They engage the heroes in an all-out brawl. The heroes gain the upper hand but thanks to her magic, Cinder fools them, takes Elsa, and rips the woman's power from her, using blood magic and this world's blurred lines between the spirit and physical world to do so. Elsa is out and the Black Knight kills Garrus and does something that manages to give birth to a spirit called Vatuu, the Spirit of Chaos Korra had defeated only a month before. The spirit then fuses with Elsa's power and becomes nigh unstoppable, able to overwhelm every hero even when they fight together.

Hope then touches her inner power from her days with the Avengers, unleashing the power of Shaou Lao, and faces Vatuu while the others engage the Black Knight, Cinder and their allies. Even with her power, Hope is outmatched, but Chief notices a weakness in Vatuu and tells Korra how the spirit seems to be having trouble permanently fusing with Elsa's power. Korra realizes then she could pull Vatuu and the power apart the way he had pulled her and Rava apart in their fight over a month before. She fights with Hope while Chief and Shepard manage to defeat the Black Knight and Cinder, and together the two manage to distract Vatuu enough to where Korra pulls him from Elsa's power. The power returns to Elsa and a weakened Vatuu is no match for the two girls and the heroes.

At the very edge of defeat, a sound paralyzes everyone but Chief and Vatuu, allowing the Spirit to take Cinder, the Black Knight and the Titan and flee through a portal to another universe, leaving behind Mikasa and the four evil benders that had joined them. Before it leaves however, it proclaims that a fourth has been unleashed and Chief is confused by such a statement.

Shepard curses their escape but takes the other enemies prisoner. Much to her disappointment they have to flee the planet. They abandon it, much to Korra and her friends anger. They leave the planet aboard the Normandy, and return to their own universe.

Somewhere else a woman named Esdeath wakes up and is confronted by Cinder and the Black Knight, making a pact with them and their leaders- the Gravemind, Vatuu, and the Catalyst- to help them defeat their enemies.

* * *

 **A/N So that's the summary. Yes, the story is a multiverse crossover with Mass Effect/Halo/RWBY/AkameGaKill/Frozen/LegendOfKorra/ and even Star Trek- which starts at this part. Things may seem a little wild, but everything will be explained during this part and restated so everyone isn't completely lost as to what's happening. Also the characters stick true to their personalities, so Elsa and Chief don't get along, and characters whose personalities are opposite tend to hate each other. Even Chief and Shepard don't see eye to eye. So anyway that's that and here you go! Lets start Part II!**

* * *

 **Part II**

 **The Spartan and the Commander**

 **Chapter 1: Realties and Allies**

* * *

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Shepard had been forced to leave behind a dying planet. Two weeks since she had to watch it burn from orbit, as their fleet evacuated themselves from the system. As they left it for dead.

"Commander."

Katherine Shepard stepped through the sliding doors, her boots clanging against the sleek metal of Admiral Hackett's ship. She smoothed the sides of her officers uniform and glanced around the conference room, whose light shined off her pale skin. She had been properly patched up after they got returned to the Normandy. She loved that modern technology could make her look good as new.

Holographic screens filled the center of the table, cycling through reports from all across the galaxy. Each report was different, and the people reading through them were from the systems that the reports were based on.

The closest to her on her left was Admiral Hackett, cycling through reports of Earth and her sister planets. On the other side of him, closet on her right was the Admiral Thran' Fredum reading through reports of the Covenant fleets that were defending Sur'Kesh and fighting for control of Palaven. Next was the new Admiral Quartin from the combined Quarian-Geth fleet, and after him was the Turian Admiral named Stratos Vindictus, then there was the Asari Councilor named Daylium. Finally, the last three members of their meeting were the new Salarian Councilor called Piktus, the Keeper daughter of the Librarian, and the new floating lightbulb named 343 Guilty Spark.

Where the new lightbulb came from she barely knew. All she knew was that it came to the Keeper and Arbiter when they were building the Keeper's new ship after the Flood destroyed her old one, and the Monitor was the only reason they were able to come and rescue Shepard and her team before the Flood overtook the world they had been stranded on. Apparently he had a reality transporter. She didn't ask how. At least not yet.

"So what's the status?" Shepard asked, leaning onto the holotable, looking at the mass of holographic reports laid out for her. Palaven was still under siege, Earth was still under Flood control, Salarian space was now under attack, the Asari were only in control of half their territory, the Terminus system had lost twenty-five percent of its territory.

"As you can see Palaven is still under siege. The Covenant's support has allowed us to retake part of the planet, but the Flood and Reaper forces are still pushing us back on every front. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to hold out." Admiral Vindictus sighed.

"The STG have also informed us that the Flood have began mustering fleets near the edge of the relays. We fear they're preparing to invade the Pranas system as well as the rest of Terminus." The Salarian Admiral added.

Shepard ran a hand through her red hair, "Hows the Alliance doing?"

Hackett pulled up a large hologram and floated it over to her as he said, "Our fleets are mostly decimated. We have around two hundred ships left up and running and over fifty still being repaired at various sites."

There was a heavy breath, then he continued, "Shepard we're losing this war. We don't have the resources to keep this up. Against the Reapers alone, maybe. But we can't defeat both the Flood and Reapers."

He looked at her with a smile, "So we take the head off the beast." He looked over at the Keeper and she took the cue.

With a step forward, she started, "We have already discussed the idea of using the Halo array as a weapon, and with the Spartan with us we can finally reactivate the array."

"But," Guilty Spark interrupted, "You need my help to find the array. The Reclaimers hid it a long time ago and without my help you'll never find it."

"And you already said you'll help us." Hackett added.

"Of course."

Shepard already didn't like the new lightbulb. Reluctant Promise she could stand, this one was just annoying.

"So where are the rings?" The Arbiter asked leaning towards the Monitor. Katherine swore she could've heard a slight hiss in his tone but ignored it. Whatever the Elite had against the Monitor was between them.

"Here. And there." A hologram of the galaxy popped up and seven different yellow lights shined on the edges of the galaxy, each light on a different end of the galaxy."

"Half of these are on the edge of Reaper or Flood controlled space." The Asari Councilor, Daylium, added.

"How do you expect us to get to these weapons if we don't have the fleets capable of doing this?" Admiral Vindicates stated.

"Simple," Guilty Spark formed another hologram, "We find the Ark."

"Enough games oracle," The Arbiter stated with obvious irritation, "Tell us your plan."

The Monitor floated for a few moments before responding, "If you insist." It floated over the table and opened up another hologram, this one of the Master Chief.

"The Last of the Reclaimers must power up the Halo array and the Ark. Once he does this, the Keeper and I can reprogram it so the array fires in a single concentrated blast. We will use the Ark to gather the arrays in a single place, reprogram them, then we destroy the Gravemind."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "That's not a plan."

"It's an outline. If you wish to survive you must be willing to help me distract and capture the Gravemind."

She scoffed, "You want us to capture that thing? We barely survived a fight with it last time! Hell, what about the Black Knight and Cinder! They're still out there and I'm damn sure they're coming for us."

"Your focus is defeating the Flood and Reapers is it not?"

"Yeah but-"

"Then capturing the Gravemind is necessary. Of course, it's best we wait to complete that part of the plan until the Keeper and I can reprogram the array and the Ark."

"How long will that take?" Hackett asked.

"A few weeks at least." The Keeper responded.

The Admirals and Councilor nodded in agreement. Shepard shook her head but didn't voice her objection to the 'plan'.

"We can hold for a few more months if need be, but the more time you take the less chance we have of success. If we want to capture this Gravemind I'm assuming we'll need hundreds of ships?"

"Thousands." The Turian Councilor quipped as a joke.

"Tens of thousands." Guilty Spark added.

"You've got to be kidding?" Shepard gasped, standing up straight and crossing her arms. "We barely have enough to hold our borders. Even with the Covenant at our side we have maybe twelve thousand ships, most of which are helping keep the borders secure."

She laughed, "Hell, the only reason we're even alive is because the Flood's probably fighting a hundred different wars in who knows how many other universes, and the Reapers can only get to us through the Relays, most of which we control."

"Do you understand how hard it will be to capture the leader of the Flood?" The Monitor asked, his voice sounding condescending as he spoke. "All of his fleets will come to his aid, not to mention those of his allies. It will not be an easy fight."

"I never said it would," Shepard started, "But where the hell do you expect us to find tens of thousands of reinforcements?"

The Monitor looked around the group, "Why it's simple! The other universes of course!"

* * *

Korra dodged. She pressed her heel back, used her momentum to spin around, then kicked out a quick gust of air at her opponent.

It raced past the blonde across from her, and Elsa returned her attack with a blast of ice.

She smirked and ducked under the ice, shooting out a lance of fire that was countered by a wall of ice. The wall just as quickly reformed into several large spikes of ice that then launched themselves at her. She smashed two apart with her fists and leapt over the others.

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, "Not bad Queeny."

The blonde woman smiled, "Thank you Korra."

The Avatar rolled her eyes, "You need to relax. Stop being so formal."

Elsa grimaced at her statement but stood up straighter, seeing that their sparring session was over. She walked over to Korra, adjusting the military fatigues she wore during their sessions to try to get them to fit comfortably.

"You're still a bit slow, and you can still hit stronger." Korra kicked out a blast of fire that scorched the far wall to prove her point, "Other than that, you're doing good. Tomorrow we work on actual combat." Her grin sent a shiver down the Queen's spine.

"Actual combat? Isn't that what we were doing?"

Korra chuckled, "Lady please. Did that look like anything that happened between me and Vatuu?"

She stayed silent.

"Right you were stuck in the med bay for that," She rubbed her head, "Ok, well no, that was not actual combat. That's just training. Tomorrow we'll start putting you in actual combat situations and see how you do."

"I'm not sure-"

"Ah you'll be fine!" Korra patted her on the back, knocking Elsa into a stumble, then walked towards the sliding doors of the elevator. The Normandy's loading bay was the largest space on the ship for them to practice. However, per Shepard's request, Korra was still having to hold back her punches. She hated it, but understood that blowing a hole in the ship's side wouldn't be a good thing. Still she couldn't wait for them to land somewhere so she could use earthbending again.

She pressed the call button for the elevator and leaned against the wall as she waited. She watched Elsa grab her regular dress, the blue, icy one, then walk over to her with the dress bundled up in her arms.

"You should really get some better clothes." Korra added, as the elevator arrived and opened up for them.

"Why do you say that?" Elsa asked. Her voice was still proper, but it wasn't as cold as it had been a few weeks ago. Then again, Korra knew the Queen was only really cold or firm against the Master Chief and sometimes Shepard. She seemed to get along well enough with everyone else, just not Chief.

"Well," Korra shrugged as she clicked on the display for the crew's quarters, "that dress isn't really combat friendly."

"I can thicken it."

"Ok, that['s] not really going to help against the freaking Black Knight and jerk lady."

Elsa pursed her lips at the mention of Cinder, "Well I'm sure I can prove you wrong tomorrow."

Korra grinned and raised an eyebrow, "Well someone's ready to rumble." She looked back to the doors as they opened, and let out a sigh that Elsa didn't notice. She had a flashback of the battle. Of Vatuu with Elsa's power, destroying her world and defeating all of them.

She rubbed her cheek as she walked out into the mess hall after Elsa. She was glad she at least didn't have any more burns, or scars after the fight. The medicine of Shepard's universe was definitely above her own. Even Elsa looked as good as new, and she had received the most brutal beating of them all.

"Korra! Quick! Sergeant Garnder made your favorite!" A loud, happy voice called out from the long table in the middle of the room.

Bolin and Mako along with a few others were sitting around the halls large table eating lunch.

"Well, as close as I could." the sergeant, the Normandys new cook, said from behind the counter of the mess hall as he finished up cleaning.

"It's pretty great if I do say so myself," Hope, the mutant girl they had found on her planet, who was also apparently a reality hopper like Shepard, said with a half-full mouth.

"It's alright," Wrex, the massive alien called a Krogan, uttered from his seat at the end of the table. He proffered his bowl as Elsa and her approached and offered to them. They declined.

"Wrex," Another voice popped up from over where the Med-Bay was, "Be nice." Said R, the short-haired brunette with her simple purple dress and large hazel eyes.

The Krogan grunted again but only sat back in his chair while the young girl slipped back into the Med-Bay.

Korra took a seat next to Bolin while Elsa sat across from them, sitting pert and upright. She was way too formal for their taste.

"Have you seen Anna?" The blonde asked, looking at Bolin.

"Nope," He said through mouthfuls, "But I think Mako saw her in the observation deck?"

The elder boy nodded, "Yeah I saw her there a few minutes ago with that blue chick."

"Liara," Korra reminded him.

"Yeah her." Mako replied with a shrug, going back to his meal.

Korra shook her head then grabbed herself a plate from the buffet laid out on the table. Since they left her planet, her people were doing they best to adjust to space and all the marvels of technology. For example, she was still having to learn how to work a TV or what they called the internet. She barely mastered opening the doors a few days ago.

It was tough, and she hated the fact they had been forced to leave their home, but in retrospect she understood why they did it. From what she knew, several million people from the three nations had survived as well as Tenzin and his whole family. All the survivors had been relocated to a planet that she no idea what its name was, and were being taken care of as refugees by Shepard's allies. They were thankful, but it was difficult.

She would've stayed with her people, but Shepard and Tenzin had spent two days convincing her to go along with Shepard, and after realizing that sitting around doing nothing wasn't going to bring her home back, she decided to go along. Of course Mako, Bolin and Asami had come along, but unfortunately her loyal pet Naga had to be left behind due to lack of space.

"What the heck just touched my feet!" Hope shrieked.

"Pabuu!" Bolin yelled.

Pabuu the red ferret and Bolin's loyal pet was able to come along though. Also, from what Korra knew, Elsa had been in a similar predicament, but she had been convinced too, especially when her sister decided she would join Shepard even if Elsa wouldn't. Apparently it was a common decision among the few of them that helping Shepard beat the monsters that destroyed their homes was the best course of action.

So their group was formed. Her friends, Anna, Elsa, Anna's boyfriend whose name she still didn't know, and whoever else was on Shepard's ship. She knew Wrex, sorta, and knew the machine called Legion that they had fixed up. She had talked to Liara the Asari once or twice, and had gotten to know the Doctor, Chakawas, rather well from how much time she and Shepard and Elsa had spent in there. Then there was Javik the snarky four-eyed knew there were dozens of other crew members, but she still hadn't met them all.

She looked around but failed to see the real person she was hoping was around. Chief. She liked having him around, mainly since when he was around she felt invincible. She had seen him take on enemies far above himself and still win. He was a damn good fighter in her book, but he was quiet.

"Hey anyone seen Grumpy?" Korra asked with a mouthful. Everyone in their little group, meaning her, her friends, and Hope, had come to call Chief "Grumpy" whenever he wasn't around. He didn't really talk to any of them except maybe Hope, the Arbiter, and Shepard, but even then he spent his time alone. "Loner" was too mean of a name, so they stuck with Grumpy since he never seemed to be happy.

Bolin nodded, "Yeah—" He started coughing from choking on his food before grabbing his drink a chugging it down. Hope laughed and continued his statement, "We saw him in one of the observation decks a few hours ago."

The Avatar nodded then froze, "Please tell me Anna and Liara didn't try to go talk to him?"

"Doubt it. The man left an hour ago on one of the shuttles." Wrex informed.

"He left?" Hope asked, her look growing dark and her earlier tone of cheeriness fading away. Mako and Bolin stopped their own eating to listen in and Korra gently placed her spoon into the bowl. Elsa shifted awkwardly and got up to grab more food.

Wrex chuckled, enjoying their curiosity. "Shepard called for him. No idea why." The giant alien lied. Of course Shepard had told him why, but he wasn't going to tell them. They weren't his friends, and he didn't trust them enough to tell them mission details.

Korra shrugged, "Oh well. Guess they're gonna miss out on game night."

"Game night?"

* * *

Chief steadied his rifle, Shepard standing next to him as she looked down the scope of her sniper rifle.

They were on the top of a skyscraper, in the middle of a debris filled abandoned city on a scouting mission deep in enemy territory. His visor beeped, and he was glad to see his motion sensor was clear of any threats.

"Anything?" Shepard asked, adjusting her bangs so they didn't block her line of sight.

"Negative. Only hostiles." The Spartan responded.

Hostiles, dozens of them, stood around a mile away from the two, guarding a building. Reaper troops stationed to guard a building was not in the norm, so when Hackett heard of it while she was on her way back to the Normandy, he asked her to go check it out. After the battle of Korra's planet, Garrus's death, and everyone almost dying, Shepard had only wanted Chief to come with her. She needed Wrex to keep an eye on the others[. Legion and Javik were out on a mission for the Council, and Liara was still missing a limb. Jacqueline was busy meeting with Hackett, and Garrus was gone. So only Chief was left.

"Why the hell are they guarding that place?" Shepard muttered to herself. The building they were watching was a tall skyscraper in the middle of one of humanities colonies. They had used a small stealth ship the Keeper had salvaged from her old ship to get to the planet without detection.

Their mission was to observe, and if necessary, take out whatever it was the Reapers were guarding.

John didn't reply and kept his focus on the building. The windows were tinted and no one had come in or out for as long as they had been watching.

"Do we have any surveillance in the area?" He finally asked.

"No. Alliance cleared out of the system once the Reapers moved on it in full force. No one's in this system but us."

He nodded gently, "We should move closer."

"We have no idea what the hell else is in this city." Katherine glanced at the surrounding buildings. She looked over the railing, towards the streets hundreds of feet below them. "For all we know the Flood could be here. Hell, Cinder and the damn Knight could be here."

Chief didn't respond. He shifted his stance slightly and angled his scope up so he could look in the windows of the building they were watching.

"I've got movement." Shepard suddenly stated, "Half a mile down the street from the building towards us."

Chief followed her gaze. Down his scope he saw at least a dozen marauders and husks walking down the street toward the building. However what caught his eye was the single person standing in the middle of them all.

A tall, slender woman with sky blue hair and a white outfit with tall black high heeled boots, and a saber on her hip.

"Who the hell is that?" Shepard asked, her voice dangerously low.

"More importantly, why is she here?" John replied.

"Well, she's headed towards that building. Five credits says she's meeting with Cinder and that Knight."

John didn't respond. His gaze was focused solely on the woman. The way she carried herself was interesting. She was confident in her stride, and he could tell she wasn't afraid of the creatures around her.

As he watched her he saw her head slightly tilt. She stopped in her tracks, then her head ever so slightly turned to where he saw the corner of her lips turn up in a grin.

"Shepard."

"Run." The Commander beat him to it, having seen the same thing.

They both turned around and sprinted off towards the stair entrance on the roof, instinct screaming at them to flee. Shepard reached for the door, but John grabbed her and pulled her with him, forcing her to keep running. They ran right towards the edge of the roof and Chief leapt off without hesitation, pulling Shepard with him.

The two fell, racing through the sky and the clouds as they rocketed towards the abandoned streets below.

Shepard's helmet formed around her head, allowing her to breathe as they fell, and she glanced back up to see a massive mountain of ice rip through entire top five floors of the skyscraper. Her eyes went wide as the debris began falling after her and the mountain of ice suddenly vanished.

She looked over to Chief who fell right next to her. "Chief!" she yelled, wondering how the hell they were going to stop free falling.

The Spartan looked behind them then looked back at her. His visor kept his face from her but his arm grabbed her own and he pulled her to him.

Before Katherine could ask anything, they jerked to stop as Chief's armor blasted out two jets of propellant and rocketed them towards the nearest building as the debris raced past them and towards the ground.

The Spectre's eyes closed and the two slammed through a window, shattering it into a million pieces, then crashed into piles of desks. They broke apart then rolled through the abandoned office supplies.

Shepard rolled onto her back and groaned as she stretched her neck. She grit her teeth and sat up, clearing her head with a quick shake. She stood up and Chief was at the broken window, staring up at where they come from.

John's eyes looked over the top of the building with curiosity. The woman had known they were there, and one attack of hers was able to wipe out five floors of a skyscraper. He looked around the office then down towards the streets below.

Dozens of Reaper troops stalked around the streets aimlessly.

"We should get going before that woman finds us." His mind raced despite his stoic voice and stance. He had seen power, and this woman was formidable. If it came to a fight, he wanted a plan first. They had gotten lucky against Vatuu, but against this woman, who seemed to have as much power as Elsa, he wanted a plan before striking.

Shepard looked down to the streets, "The ship's a few blocks away." John didn't reply.

She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, "There's a lot of Reapers down there." He only turned around and headed for what she could only figure were the stairs.

Katherine sighed and followed after him, "And you don't care. Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

Elsa stared out into the deep black pit that was space. Every few inches in her vision small lights twinkled, some bright some dull. She wondered what space was like Would she die? What would it feel like?

She turned away from the window and moved over to the couch. She felt heavy and plopped herself in the middle, leaning back against the leather and closing her eyes. She was grateful the Normandy's observation deck was cool and quiet. It was better than the mess hall.

As her body relaxed, her mind stretched out and she thought. She thought about the impossibility of everything she had been through in the past three months. She thought about the fact she was in a flying ship, sailing through the stars. She wondered how on earth she was even here, or why she was here. The enemies they fought, the things she'd seen..

No person should ever have to go through all that. Not even her enemies.

In the end she was grateful for those she called allies. Shepard was a trustworthy woman, and though she didn't always like Shepard's personality or the way she decided things, she at least respected her. Korra was a lively girl like her sister, but was in the same boat as them. She had been taken from her world by a stranger and got thrown into a war neither of them asked to be a part of. Her 'friends' were nice enough, and Shepard's crew seemed at least tolerable. Hope, the young redhead like her sister, was strange but kind. She was hard-headed, but she reminded Elsa of Anna and that alone made it enjoyable to talk to her. Then there was Chief.

From what she had seen after the battle on Korra's planet the man was a recluse. He stayed to himself and was always preparing for another fight. She never saw him eat with the others, or talk to anyone other than Hope, Shepard and the alien called the Arbiter.

She shivered at the though of the giant alien. He was nice, but the way he and the other aliens looked made her uneasy. They were creatures she never imagined, and everyone else, other than her acted like it was a natural thing for them to be around. She guess she could understand Korra being ok with them, since her world was filled with spirits and things like Vatuu.

Vatuu. The Spirit of Chaos. The one that tried to kill her and take away something precious to her. Once upon a time, she thought her powers were a curse, but she learned to love them. After all, her sister did and she learned her powers could be used for more than destruction, but that didn't stop Vatuu from taking her power.

She remembered the pain. The feeling that went so deep that you could never recover from such a tragedy. But she had, because the others had stopped the spirit and freed her power from its control.

They had fought to the very last of their strength to stop the spirit.

She stood up and raised her hand. Her dress thickened over her torso and the flowing cape behind her fizzled into nothing. The back of her dress grew slightly longer, and the front grew thick with swirled designs over her upper body and stomach. A collar grew on her dress, moving upward to where it guarded her neck. Her shoes grew long and formed up into tall boots that covered up to her knee while on her forearms two gauntlets formed into solid layers of dark ice that could take a bullet.

Never again would she let anything get the best of her the way Cinder did. Never would she let someone beat her. She had to protect her sister. Her family. So she started learning from Korra. She learned how to fight.

A sword formed in her hand and she looked it up and down. It was curved slightly at the end, and the hilt was rough with swirls on its grip while two jagged rain guards stuck out from it.

She relaxed and the armor she had created, inspired by the Keeper's and Chief's, disappeared in an instant. Her normal dress returned and she smiled.

The next time she faced Cinder the outcome would be different.

* * *

Chief walked into the Med Bay with Shepard trailing behind him. His armor was singed and a massive spike from a Flood soldier, that had been wielding an upgraded Spiker, stuck out from a weak part in his armor.

Shepard was a little worse for wear sporting a few cuts and bruises, and several broken bones from fighting two Brutes and a Flood Juggernaut form. They had made it out in good time, leaving the planet before reinforcements could arrive, but they had failed in their mission. They had been seen, and had failed to find out whatever the Reapers were guarding so carefully.

However, they did see the new woman, and she was obviously a powerful enemy. She would have to report it to Hackett. If there was another super powered being fighting against them then things got even worse.

The elder doctor looked up from her desk at the two and sighed, "Is this going to become a regular thing with you two?"

Katherine replied before John could, "Oh relax. We've both been in far worse shape." Chief watched as she pushed past him and sat herself on one of the beds. Immediately she went to work on taking off her armor.

He followed suit. His helmet went off first, and the cool air was a pleasure he greeted.

Dr. Chakwas got up from her desk and walked over to him as he set his helmet down next to him. "Let me see." She didn't wait for him to offer it and moved to where she could see the Spiker round sticking out from under the side of his chest piece.

She shook her head, "I figure your armor's biofoam is still working?" Chief nodded. "Ah well good. You're lucky the stuff isn't hard to make. You would've ran out ages ago if it wasn't for us." She stepped back and asked, "Any more injuries?"

"Negative."

"Good." She turned and walked over to Shepard. She looked her over once and said, "Let me guess, broken ribs, fractured arm and a good serration on your left leg for good measure with all your little nicks and bruises for a topping?"

Shepard chuckled, "Yup."

Chakwas rubbed her head, "Commander, sometimes I wonder how you ever made it off the Citadel alive all those years ago."

"Luck," Katherine laughed.

John looked at her with curiosity.

"Well," Chawkas started, as she got supplies from the drawers around her, "that's something you definitely have a lot of."

Shepard shrugged. "Maybe. Ow!" She glared at the doctor as she jabbed a needle into her torn up leg. She sighed and John adjusted himself so he could look out the window. He heard the footsteps coming towards the Med Bay and from the sound, it seemed like either of the two redheads he knew were coming to see them.

"Anyway, how things been since we've been gone?" Shepard asked.

Chakwas shrugged, "Its only been a couple days Commander, so the galaxy hasn't died yet. I have to say though, telling Wrex to train Korra and the others was a good idea. They actually might end up capable of defending themselves."

"I didn't order that…" She exchanged a glance with Chief who in turn narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Chakwas stopped bandaging the Commander's leg and looked up, "Really? I figured him volunteering wasn't really an option. I wonder how if they talked him into it."

Katherine groaned and palmed her forehead, "Its Wrex. He's a Krogan. He basically lives for battle. It would've been easy to convince him."

"Agreed. Well you might want to check up on them sometime. That Korra girl is getting better everyday."

The doors opened before Shepard could reply and Hope rushed in, breathing heavily. She cleared her throat, "I know you guys just got back but there's a problem in the loading bay."

"What happened?" Shepard asked in firm voice, her playful self disappearing in an instant.

"Well, let's say Korra and Elsa had a sort of disagreement and now the loading bay is covered in ice and scorch marks."

Doctor Chakwas started, "I thought…"

"Wrex was watching us? Yeah he's encouraging them."

John slid off the bed and slipped his helmet back on. He grabbed the Spiker and yanked it out of his side before tossing it on the bed behind him. He heard Shepard say something to get the doctor to stop whatever she was doing and then watched as she walked past him and then pushed past Hope, grumbling something under her breath.

Chief looked down at Hope.

"Hey Chief." She smiled. He nodded then walked past her and after Shepard.

The trip down was only a minute or two, but they traveled in silence. Shepard was annoyed and Hope seemed fidgety for some reason that Chief couldn't place. He at first worried about a betrayal, but after what she did for him on Korra's planet he was mostly sure she was a friend over an enemy. Still, he was ready just in case.

The doors opened up to the loading bay and Shepard stormed in. "Korra! Elsa!"

John walked in and stopped. The bay was completely empty. No one was there. There was no ice, or fire or even Wrex. His eyes went wide and he spun around only to get hit by a gust of air that forced him and Shepard to stumble backwards into the open area of the loading bay.

He looked up just as a blast of fire came for him and he ducked under it.

"What the hell is going on here!" Shepard roared, obviously annoyed.

The Spartan saw Elsa and Korra, each of them standing opposite of him and Shepard, their hands raised and a look of determination on Korra's face while Elsa seemed hesitant and reeled on her back foot as if ready to run. He saw Hope lean against the wall next to the elevator with a smirk and saw her exchange something with the Krogan called Wrex, who had apparently been standing just out of sight.

"Just a sparring match." Korra grinned.

"Korra…" Shepard warned, powering up her biotics in irritation.

The Avatar rolled her eyes, "Come on it's just for fun!"

John looked back at the two women in front of him. It was a training exercise. He was willing to bet that Wrex had convinced Korra and Elsa to surprise attack him and Shepard into a sparring match, the ultimate test of their abilities against him and Shepard, arguably the two best fighters they had.

He slid his right foot back and tilted his head forward.

"Korra…"

"Look, if we win you buy us something nice, and if you win I promise never to… uh.. ok well you can just tell me whatever it is you want."

"We're injured Korra."

"Which makes it a fair fight! Come on just one five-minute match?"

Shepard rolled her eyes and lowered her center body mass. A devious smirk played her face. "Don't say I didn't warn you two."

If it was training they wanted, then training they would get.

* * *

 **A/N Hey guys so here's the first chapter of Part II to the Universe of All Reality series. As you can tell Part II is named the Power of the Grail (plot reasons for this), and this part should be equivalent in length to the first Part.**

 **If anyone has any questions or ideas PM me! Also I'll do my best for any new readers to help introduce the world and all the characters that've been thrown together in the mix of everything.**

 **Thanks for reading. God bless! Review!**

 **-Metal4k**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II**

 **The Power of the Grail**

 **Chapter 2: The Portal**

* * *

Chief stood straight.

The two girls wanted training?

His gaze behind his visor narrowed at them. They weren't soldiers. They didn't know war, or death, or the pain of watching a hundred worlds burn under a genocidal enemy's campaign. If they wanted to train they could learn the proper way. Through years of learning and being taught. Through facing monsters in a firefight and doing whatever it took to survive.

Not through fake sparring matches and pretending to be soldiers.

They were children. Why Shepard wanted them on this mission he didn't know. He knew it was a terrible idea. Having these children around would get them all killed.

"Chief?" Shepard asked from next to him as his stance relaxed.

He didn't reply. He just walked right past Elsa and towards the elevator. He wasn't going to be a part of this. He had more important things to do.

"Hey, where are you going?"

The Spartan glanced at her from behind his visor and only tilted his helmet to look at the Commander. Again he didn't reply and the elevator doors closed in front of him, and the Chief was gone from sight as metal doors slid between him and the others in the Loading Bay.

"What the heck's his problem?" Korra asked as she relaxed from her fighting stance.

Shepard stayed silent and only looked at the elevator in silence. She had a feeling she knew why the Spartan had acted like that.

"Well that was new." Hope stated, walking up to the group with crossed arms and a confused expression.

"What a buzz kill." Wrex grumbled from his spot against the wall.

"At least Shepard didn't leave." Hope announced with a forced smile.

Katherine shook her head. "Let me get some sleep and some food, then I'll come spar with you two."

Korra sighed while Elsa looked more relieved than anything.

"Its fine, maybe another time." The darker skinned girl headed to the far side of the Loading Bay and started discussing something with one of her friends, who had been hiding behind some crates to watch the fight but was now sitting on them since the 'show' never started.

Shepard watched her for a brief second, then headed off towards the elevator with Hope following her. She was quiet, her thoughts going back and forth between Chief and his attitude.

It made sense why he refused. Or at least she thought it made sense. He was different from the rest of them. He was cold, focused, and always set on completing the mission.

Sure, she would do what it took to get a mission done, but she wasn't like him. What had the man seen to make him so cold? So… inhuman?

"Hey Shepard?"

She looked up to see the elevator doors close. Then they started to rise through the ship.

She didn't even notice when it had arrived or when she walked in.

"Shepard?"

She shook her head and looked over at Hope. "Sorry, just thinking. What's up?"

The mutant girl looked down and huffed out a deep breath, blowing her bangs out of her face. "What do you think of Chief?"

Katherine looked at her inquisitively. "What do you mean?

"Well," Hope started, "He's so… I don't know, cold? He's just. Do you think he's right?"

Whatever on earth Hope was talking about she had no idea. She wondered if the younger girl was thinking the same thing she was, and in a sense knew why Chief wasn't willing to spar them.

"What exactly do you mean Hope? You're not being very clear." Her voice changed and she put on her Commander persona.

The girl rolled her head as the elevator came to a stop, revealed the Crew Quarters and followed out after Shepard. As the Spectre walked over to the small kitchen to cook herself some grub the mutant sat on the large dining table.

"Ok," Hope started, "well I think he thinks that it's a waste of time. Teaching them to fight you know? I mean, sure they held their own against a few super powered beings but that doesn't really make them soldiers does it? Not like us."

"Like us?" Shepard raised en eyebrow with a smirk as she opened a counter and pulled out a container.

Hope laughed, "I don't mean I'm anything like you two, like all badass and stuff. But," She stopped talking for a moment staring at Shepard but not looking at her. "I've seen and been through more than enough firefights. I've seen, so many things those two couldn't dream of, and I've seen death more times than I can count. I was trained, I've fought, I've killed."

She stopped talking and look Katherine in the eye. "I know what it is to be a soldier, but," she licked her lips, "I want to know what you think. Is it a mistake having them here? Cause I don't know! They're useful and awesome but…" She couldn't finish.

The Spectre held her gaze briefly then looked back to the extravagant meal she was making, a bowl of cereal. Shepard closed the lip of the cereal container and slipped it back from where she got it. Before she responded to Hope she grabbed her bowl, palaced the carton of milk underneath her arm, then made her way to the table. She sat down across from Hope while the mutant just stared and waited for a response.

Katherine sighed. The girl had training. She had helped Chief fight off Flood in hand to hand combat. The two of them survived in Ba Sing Se against thousands of Flood troops without help or weapons. She had even saved Chief once if she believed their story. Maybe Hope had a point.

She looked down at her cereal and sat back in her chair. What a beautiful sight, the simple way the cereal floated in the cool white milk. It was all so…

Simple.

"Hope," She started, "If I'm right, and don't quote me on this, I think Chief at least has a point. Or at least, you have a point."

She glanced behind her, then in front of her to make sure their conversation was private. Then she continued, "Elsa and Korra, their friends, their families. They aren't are kids. But they want to fight."

She thought of Earth during the Reaper War. She remembered the little kid trying to climb aboard a shuttle. She remembered the Reaper's beam.

"They want to avenge their homes. They want to stop the Flood and Reapers so what happened to their homes won't happen to anyone else. I know the feeling, and I support their decisions. They want to train and we'll help them. They need to know how to fight."

"Shepard," Hope started, still confused on her on indecisiveness when the Commander silenced her with a look that said 'let me finish'.

Katherine then continued, "I'm not going to send them anywhere, or put them in charge of protecting our backs in the middle of a firefight just yet. I want them to learn first, then once their ready, we can put them in the field and see how they do."

Hope opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. She thought it over and nodded her head in agreement. It made sense, and hell, having a fully trained sorcerer of ice on their side would be a great freaking help.

"Well then we should whoop them into shape." Hope smiled.

Shepard returned the gesture and was about to speak when a deep voice spoke up from the side of them, from the entrance of the Med Bay. "We shouldn't."

They both turned and saw no other than the Chief standing there, his visor fixed on them and his tone hollow as it usually was.

"Why not?" Hope asked, confused now that her mind had been changed.

The Spartan stalked towards them, arms hanging at his side and his voice even as he spoke. "They're children."

"We know that." Shepard responded glaring softly at the super soldier.

"And they'll get everyone on this ship killed."

Hope stared at the Chief with a dumbstruck look. She got off from the table, landing gently on her feet, and raised her hands. "Hold on. You're saying those two are going to get all of us killed just because they're not super soldiers?"

"No. Because they're not soldiers. They don't know what it takes."

"Yeah," Hope said taking a step towards Chief, "But like Shepard said we'll teach them! Whose better to teach them than us! We three have seen war and death over and over and over again, so who the heck is better to teach them what it takes then us!"

"Because its not techniques and discipline that he's talking about." Shepard interrupted causing the two others to look at her, Hope with confusion and Chief with understanding.

She took a deep breath, "He's talking about the feeling. The feeling when you have to make a choice that breaks most. He's talking about killing. About death, and all the shit a person has to see in war."

She looked down.

"But we made it didn't we?" Hope whispered looking back and forth between them. "They can too?"

Chiefs visor moved to look at Hope and she looked away from his gaze. "They're not soldiers. They shouldn't be here."

"We should give them a chance." Katherine said looking up with a hard look on her face. "If we did it they can."

Chief stayed quiet.

"She's right you know." Hope said with look of agreement and a nod. "They can do it. If they couldn't then they wouldn't have fought with us back there against Vatuu."

Chief looked down at her and responded, "They can't. Do you think they can make the hard choice? Between life and death? It took them days to decide whether they would get aboard a ship."

Hope held her tongue. He had a point. Elsa had been indecisive in battle and in mostly everything else. She took forever to decide, and she saw how scared the blonde had been when fighting. Could they expect her to make a hard decision like taking the life of someone? Did Korra have it in her to kill someone?

"So what should we do if we can't use them like you say?" Hope said with grit teeth and a glare at Chief.

"We take them to the refugee planet."

"And just abandon them after we said we would help them? Or they would help us! Or whatever!" Hope exclaimed her voice rising to a yell.

Shepard, having gotten out of her seat, placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. She gave Hope a soft smile then looked up at Chief. "We're not taking them anywhere. I told them they could help, and we'll teach them how to fight. The rest we'll have to see."

Her eyes were firm and her gaze was hard. She wasn't going to argue this anymore. She had asked them, convinced them to come. She wasn't going to go back on the things she said, the promises she made so they could avenge their homes.

The two soldiers stared at each other in silence while Hope awkwardly shuffled a few feet away from them. The tension was too much for her.

Chief nodded.

Shepard relaxed and nodded back. The Spartan turned and headed for the elevator. Where he went Shepard didn't care. She just needed to finish her cereal.

She looked over to the bowl and frowned. Her cereal was all soggy.

Chief on the other hand, didn't care for such things at the moment. What he cared about was the message had been delivered. He would never have confronted Shepard if it hadn't been for the fact that the third red head on their crew had been eavesdropping on them.

The elevator opened and he went in, ignoring the shuffling of the third redhead on the ship as she tried to escape into a hallway without him noticing.

He hoped that Elsa's sister would have sense and realize their folly.

* * *

"Arbiter."

The Elite in question tilted his head to glance behind him and saw Admiral Thran Fredum kneeling down with his fist against his chest and his head bowed down in a sign of respect for the once great general.

"Stand Admiral. There is no need for one of your rank to honor an old warrior like me." The Arbiter replied, staring out the viewport on his ship as another report sifted by on screen. His crew worked silently and effortlessly as they floated outside of the planet Sur Kesh monitoring battle reports.

"Nonsense Arbiter," Thran stated with a wave of his hand, "but I have news." His voice was low and dangerous, which caused the Arbiter to divert his full attention to the young Admiral.

"What is it?"

The Admiral got closer to the Arbiter so that they were standing side by side, "We've located a portal. This one is different."

"How so?" The Arbiter inquired.

Thran cleared his throat, "This one has not closed within seventy two hours."

This caused the Arbiter to clench his hands together. They had seen plenty of portals already, occasionally popping up in enemy controlled space whenever the Flood brought in reinforcements to a battle, but none had stayed open for long.

"The strange thing is our probes have recorded no Flood or Reapers utilizing the portal."

"They could be amassing forces on the other side. Send probes through and find out what we're missing."

"We did," Thran replied narrowing his gaze at the viewport. "Obviously the portal leads into another realm, but there were no Flood or Reaper ships present within two thousand light years of the portal."

The Arbiter stayed quiet. Why on earth would there be a random portal that just stays open and the Flood not be using it? A trap perhaps?

"Have you informed any one else?"

"No Arbiter."

The Arbiter nodded. "Send two ships through. Scout the surrounding star systems for any sign of life, look for traces of Flood or Reaper lifeforms. If you encounter any other sentient lifeforms avoid contact as best you can. Make sure to keep a low profile. On our side form a barricade of ten ships including two Assault Carriers. Nothing gets through without my say so."

"By your word Arbiter." Thran again saluted the ancient Elite then walked away.

His eyes narrowed at the battle reports. A portal.

Why now?

The Elite clasped his hands together. Something was going on. Something, that wasn't their doing, or the Gravemind's it seemed.

There was a third party in play, and he needed to find out who.

* * *

Hope whistled a light tune as she walked into the community bathroom, a towel hanging over her shoulder and a set of clothes under her arm. A smile was plastered on her face as she put the clothes on the long vanity and hung the towel on the rack hanging inside the large shower. She checked to make sure she had all her clothes then twisted the knob.

The shower started up with a hiss and steam started to rise as it heated up to her preferred temperature. It reminded her of how Stark had his own personalized shower with a set temperature and everything. He would always rub it in their faces at any Avengers meetings.

"Hey."

She spun around, hands ready for a fight and just saw Anna standing at the entrance with her own clothes and towel. She relaxed and smiled, "Hey Anna didn't see you there."

"Yup." The younger girl replied walking into the bathroom and slipping past Hope to the next shower.

Briefly Hope looked after Anna. She looked different in a modern skirt and silk shirt. It was different from the dress she had first met her in. Apparently it had been her normal attire, until it got trashed on Korra's planet and they had to toss it.

"So how things going? Adjusting to big old scary space well?" Hope smiled playfully as she reached behind her green and gold jumpsuit and pulled the zipper down. It came down easily and she slipped her upper torso out of the snug outfit ,revealing her bra and almost flawless skin to the warm steam floating from her shower.

She saw Anna shrug out her peripherals. "It's ok."

"It's ok?" She looked over at the princess, or at the girl who at one time had been royalty, and raised an eyebrow. Anna was never this short when she talked to people. Hell, she had known the girl for around six weeks and she already knew the girl rarely liked to shut up.

She shrugged and returned back to unchanging. She slipped one leg after the other out of her jumpsuit then folded it up and placed it next to her clothes on the vanity.

It was quiet when she slipped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed before getting out of her undergarments and relishing the hot water on her skin.

"Well at least we're not fighting some psychotic power drunk spirit." Hope chuckled lightly hoping to start some sort of conversation and break the quiet atmosphere.

"Yeah at least." Anna replied.

The mutant heard the second shower turn on and decided that Anna obviously didn't want to talk so she decided to just relax. She let her muscles loosen up under the warm water and let it roll down her face and hair with a smile on her face.

"Hey Hope?"

So now the girl of royalty was talking? She wondered what was bugging her. She waited a few more blissful seconds then said, "What's up?"

"We should fight."

That caught the mutant off guard and she opened her eyes with a series of confused blinks before wiping the water from her face and walking to shower curtain. She pulled it back and looked over to the other shower.

"Why would we fight?" She asked with a dumbfounded smile. For a second she thought maybe the other girl had lost her mind. She knew space could do that, at least to someone who had no idea space travel was even possible only two months ago.

Anna poked her head out her shower, her own hair matted down with water and said, "To show you I can fight thank you very much."

Hope then felt her stomach sink. Damn. The girl had heard her conversation with Chief and Shepard.

"Anna," She started, "look ok it's nothing personal but if you want to fight, train with Shepard. She'll get you to fight and I'm sure she'll put you up to par with everyone else."

It was a half truth. Anna was a long ways from being anywhere on the same level as her and Shepard, let alone Chief. Hell Wrex and the others on ship would tear her apart even if she got a half a years worth of training. She just didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"On par? You guys don't think we even have a chance!"

The mutant rolled her eyes, "Chief said that. Shepard thinks you do, and frankly so do I. Its not over night Chief and Shepard became the soldiers they are today. It takes time you know."

Anna narrowed her eyes at Hope for a few seconds before slipping back into her shower. "Fine. But I still want to fight."

Hope shook her head and slipped back into her shower. "You mean spar. An actual fight you don't want. Not unless you have to fight."

"Ok spar. Can we spar later today?"

Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to respond only for water from the shower to fly into her throat and cause her to cough. She coughed for a few seconds before clearing her throat and saying, "Girl you don't even have any training. No offense but you won't last ten seconds."

"Hey! I'd last at least twenty!"

There was silence before Hope replied, "Uh huh."

"Well then maybe after I show you what I'm made of you can show me some pointers." Anna said from her shower.

"Sure why not." Hope shrugged as she grabbed the shampoo and poured some on her hands, the shower water tapping against her skin.

Anna smiled in her shower and said with a prideful smirk, "I warn you, I took out a wolf one time."

"I fought a cosmic being that destroys entire worlds for fun." Hope responded without a smile on her face. "And won." She thought of when she fought Cyclops. When he had the Phoenix force in him.

There was another moment of award silence before Anna said, "I was just making a joke…"

Hope laughed, "If your making jokes make a joke about your boyfriend's haircut. That guy needs one."

"Hey I happen to like his hair thank you very much!"

* * *

Shepard laid back on her bed with a content sigh, her wet hair wrapped up in a towel. Damn how she missed this bed. It was soft, comfortable, and best of all isolated.

She loved people, but dang it sometimes she needed some 'her' time to relax. She listened to the soft humming of the air conditioner as it poured in cool air and closed her eyes as the lights turned dim.

Her mind wandered to different places. To memories of laughing with her friends, to memories of fighting against the Reapers. All of her memories swirled in a beautiful, blissful peace as the ever-loving temptation of sleep pulled her consciousness into dreams.

It was the Citadel. She was dancing and- _"Shepard."_

Couldn't they let her sleep for just one minute?

Slowly, she sat up in her bed, letting her eyes fall open with an annoyed growl. "What?" She hissed.

 _"Shepard."_

The voice was soft. Like a whisper.

Katherine rubbed her eyes and slapped herself a couple times to shake off the feeling of sleep. She looked around, her military trained eyes scanning every crevice, every nook and cranny of her room. Nothing was wrong, but no one was in her room.

 _"Shepard."_

She looked around again, wondering if maybe Chief or Korra were playing a prank on her. Then again, Chief wouldn't. He as too serious. And Korra, well she couldn't see anyone in her room and unless Korra was in her shower then there was no way she was in the room.

With an exaggerated sigh she got off the bed and headed over to the shower. "Ok look I swear if-" She opened the door and found nothing.

"Weird." Shepard closed the door and shook her head. She had to be imagining things. Then again she remembered the dream she had a few months ago. The one with the voices. And the five figures surrounded in light.

She rubbed her forehead, "No more whiskey before going to bed." An with that she walked back towards her bed, glaring at the whiskey bottle on her night stand.

"Commander Shepard," The familar voice of EDI filled her room and she smiled.

"EDI was that you whispering right now?"

There was a silence. "Commander I have no recollection of such an event."

Shepard's face went white. "Is there anyone else in my room besides me?" She looked around. What the hell had been whispering?

"There are no other life signs in the cabin other than your own, Commander."

Katherine rubbed her temples and bit her lip. God was she losing it.

"Commander, Admiral Hackett is on the Vidcom for you. He says its urgent."

The red head sighed, pushing away her thoughts, then threw her head back.

"It's always urgent. I'll be right there."

* * *

The Arbiter leaned back on his seat, his head resting in his hand as he looked at the report in front of him. His mandibles flexed back and forth as he contemplated the situation in front of him.

Thran had informed him several hours ago that nothing had come through the portal. Now the Admiral was on his way with ten ships to form a barricade around the portal.

"Arbiter, probe 63.A1 has picked up something."

The Arbiter looked down at one of his officers working at one of the stations on his bridge and said, "What did it find?"

"It has detected a life-pod coming through the portal."

"Intercept it."

"At onc- Arbiter it just slipspaced out of the system!"

"Trace it and send a ship after it."

"At once!" The Officer replied before he turned away and began giving commands to the lower ranked Elites as he carried out the Arbiters orders.

With keen eyes, the Arbiter opened up the video surveillance of the probe 63.A1 on the viewport and watched the scene unfold. The life pod, small and bulky, floated out of the portal. It didn't change direction or anything, it simply went forward. Then a hole in space ripped opened before it and went in.

"Kelda', get me the Keeper."

The Elite, his communications officer, responded, "At once, Arbiter."

He narrowed his gaze the further he studied the report. The escape pod had come through hours ago. And just now the probe sent him the information.

His gut twisted.

Why did it delay?

* * *

"Spock you seeing this?" Kirk asked, squinting at the readings his long range sensors were getting. He stood up straight to let the Vulcan see

"Captain as I have been present in the room for two minutes and forty five-"

"I mean," Kirk said with an exaggerated wave, "What do you think of it? I mean another worm hole? This is what? The third one in the past two months?"

"Correct. However the past two were opened only for an hour at most, hence why we failed to ever reach one in time to study it, but this one has been open for several hours and shows no signs of closing." Spock handed Kirk the holographic data pad he had been holding.

Kirk took it and nodded, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"No, but I assume we will follow your course of action either way."

"Ah come on, Spock! It'll be fun!"

* * *

 **A/N Here we go. Things are rolling again. Is She[ard crazy? Is Chief right?**

 **And whats messing with the Arbiters probes?** **We** **'ve seen how some creatures, like Vatuu and Hope, have the power to defy reality, so maybe its something related to them?**

 **Well find out next chapter what urgent news Hackett has for Shepard.**

 **Oh and for any Smash Bros Fans you should check out the story "It Came From Lucina's Head" Its one of the best fic's I've read and I highly recommend it!**

 **Anyway thanks for reading! Please Review! God bless you all!**

 **-Metal4k**


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